


Housebroken

by SteamySkeleton



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bad Ending, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Fucked Up, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No Romance, Torture, Whump, not sexy, seriously painful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:06:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24785104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteamySkeleton/pseuds/SteamySkeleton
Summary: The plan failed.Now that there is no one left but Shulk and Zanza, what's stopping Zanza from weeding his way into Shulks mind.Non-Con won't be graphic and will come in later.
Relationships: Shulk/Zanza (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING- BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE
> 
> Look I'm gonna be frank, Non-Con is not sexy and and it's fucking disgusting. This is not a smut fic. This is a character exploration piece and I don't want any of you here to jack-off.  
> That being said, I really like this game and I wanted to explore what might would happen if creepy-ass Zanza won and if you're here to read a shitty first attempt at a fan-fic by someone who really should just stick to art, you are in the right place!  
> Also if you struggle with any of the things discussed in this fic, please don't read or proceed with caution. I really don't want anyone getting hurt. 
> 
> As I said Non-con comes in later chapters and there will be plenty of warning.

There is one conclusion to be drawn from this experience. Shulk made a mistake. 

"You will be my disciple." It wasn't a question but a command.

Shulk's vision swam and it took every ounce of energy remaining in his quickly tiring body not to drop to the ground.  
"Never." He panted out. 

"Look around you." Zanza sounded calm. collected. A sharp contrast to the creeping panic rising in Shulk's throat. "There is no one left." 

His trembling hands clenched tight around the hilt of the replica monado. He kept his eyes fixed on his target, not on the still forms surrounding them. No. He couldn't focus on them. If he did...

"It's...not over" He ground out. It couldn't be. Not after everything they went through. The battles, the loss, the friendship, the...love. It couldn't be over.

"Oh Shulk." 

He stiffened at that tone. Like a parent scolding a disobediant child. Not that he'd know that first hand thanks to the...thing...standing in front of him.  
"Don't you understand?" Zanza approached slowly, hand out stretched like a plea.   
He knew better.

With a scream, Shulk lashed out with his sword. Before it even got half way to Zanza it was countered so forcefully, the replica monado was sent soaring into the darkness surrounding them. Shulk took a step back to keep his footing but Zanza had already closed the distance.   
"They are DEAD." a well placed kick to the chest sent Shulk sprawling. The Bionis shaped helmet dissapated in a brief flash and suddenly it was like looking in a mirror.   
The similarity was unsettling to say the least. He had been told that Zanza bared a shocking resemblence to himself but seeing it up close...  
"And you have no chance." 

Zanza kneeled beside him. He stared at him a moment, contimplating, before reaching a hand out towards him.   
Shulk squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away, expecting fully that this was the ending moment. The moment where he joins his friends for the final time. His breath caught in his throat when he felt a thumb brush lightly over his cheek-bone.

"You know..." He said slowly after stroking Shulk's cheek a few times. "You rising against me reminded me of a feeling I had long forgotten." 

Shulk cracked an eye open. His breathing had returned to a harsh pant. 

"Fear." Zanza's expression darkened for a second, locking eyes with the hom below him. "You made me think I had something to fear. And to think I feared my own creations...But, clearly it was foolish to doubt myself. I am after all a god and you are meer bugs clinging to my body." 

"No..." It was meant to come out in a roar but it more resembled a whisper.

"What? Do you disagree? Speak up. If you are not a bug than why can't you defend yourself? Why couldn't you defend your free-will dreams? Why couldn't you defend your friends who lie _SQUASHED ALL AROUND YOU"_

He flinched. No no no no no. It's not over. Reyn, Dunban, Riki, Sharla, Melia, Fiora. Had he really failed?   
"Shulk. Look at me when I'm talking to you." 

Strangly enough he made his eyes meet Zanza's. His face now hovered above his, shoulder length golden hair framing his radiant face. His eyes felt hollow. 

"You have a choice. You are not going to die, but you have a choice on how you live." 

The utter terror and subtle hysteria that had been threatening to overtake him fell into the background in favor of a sick feeling of thick confusion. He...wasn't going to die? What did Zanza mean? He wasn't becoming his disciple that he was sure of so what could he mean by letting him live? 

"You could worship me-" 

"Never." 

"Let me finish" He said cooly. "Or you could live here forever in this void with nothing but your friends rotting corpses for the rest of eternity. You won't have a place in the new world but you will live forever in this moment. Maybe I'll let you re-live the moment of each one of their deaths over and over again untill you go mad." 

Shulk's stomach dropped. No. Not possible. He couldn't...could he? Hot, angry tears pricked his eyes. For the first time since they fell, Shulk actually considered that they might actually be dead and it may actually...be over.   
A single, betraying tear streamed hopelessly down his pale cheek. 

"You-You can't do that."

Suddenly his face flared in sharp pain. Zanza had backhanded him.  
"I. _CANT?"_ In a flash he was towering above him. "Consider yourself the luckiest wretch who ever lived to have been my vessel or I would have made the decision for you and you would rot here with them." 

Shulks blood turned to ice. He had to think fast.   
It was hard with the swirling emotions of pain and grief that sunk deep into his very soul but an idea struck. 

If he said he would become a disciple he could...  
No! He could never submit to the monster that murdered everyone he loved!   
But the alternative was...terrifying and utterly hopeless...  
If he went with the idea of being a disciple then he might have a chance to get close and...what. Stop him? Kill him? He knew by now the Bionis was destroying itself and Zanza's wishes were completly fufilled. They had failed and the world was over. He couldn't even hear Alvis anymore...  
He...  
He...  
He has to avenge them. That's all that was left. Maybe if he said he would submit he could get close and at least cause ruptures in his plan for total reconstruction of living beings. 

He had to. 

  
"...ok" 

"What?"

"I said ok. I will be your disciple Zanza"

Zanza's face lit up with a creepy almost child like glee for a moment that if it was at all possible set Shulk more on edge before settling on a calm satisfaction that sent chills down Shulk's spine.

"You may be smarter than you so seem to be" He smiled. "You can start by adressing me properly. Call me...My Lord" 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shulk wakes up to some changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we are starting to get into it. Shulk is more or less in shock and Zanza only gets worse from here. 
> 
> No Non-con but there is a little bit of verbal and physical abuse so be warned. 
> 
> This Chapter was beta read by the amazing @faaf_foof who gave me some great tips and helped me out! Go check out their fics!

For the most part, Zanza spared him from having to watch the destruction of his home first hand.  
Not to say he was free from it. Screams rang in his ears as his visions ruthlessly assaulted every waking moment in those first few days, visions of a future he could not change.   
The fall of Colony 6. The shrieks of the remaining High Entia refugees being wiped out by their own transformed brethren. Soon it was hard to tell who's screams he heard, his friends or his own. 

Finally after what felt like an eternity, it was over. 

Shulk woke from unconsciousness curled on a soft surface. He squinted, blinking slowly. It was bright wherever he was. Slowly his fried brain started to catch up with his body and he noticed someone was...touching him?   
It was nice? Whoever it was was rubbing circles into his back at a leisurly pace, causing his tense muscles to soften pliantly. He couldn't help the soft sigh that escaped his lips.  
"F-Fiora?"

"You know you are much easier to tolerate when you're exhausted." 

He jumped up and scrambled away from the unfortunately familiar voice (much to the dismay of his aching body). Suddenly the events of the past few days came to him in ice-cold clarity and as the blood drained from his face, Shulk thought he was going to be sick. Even though the touch hadn't been violent in nature, something about having been touched so tenderly by the same hand that took his loved-one's lives...while he was unconscious...  
A shiver crawled up his spine.

Zanza chuckled. "What's with that face?" He was sitting on the edge of what Shulk recognized to be a large bed. He himself was lying on top on the bed's plush white comforter and he quickly noticed that he was not wearing what he had worn when he had began the final battle. He was now dressed in a only grey t-shirt and baggy grey pants that pulled to a close just above the ankle. His skin prickled at the realization that he had no recollection of getting dressed so that must mean that- no he couldn't focus on that. Not while Zanza sat two feet away from him smiling like that. He was in danger. 

"Zanza, What-" 

That dark expression clouded his face again alarmingly fast. "Watch your tone. Remember who you are talking to Shulk." 

While Shulk's sleep addled mind grasped for an explanation to this behavior, he found himself staring dumbly at Zanza.

"I-" 

Zanza sighed in frustration. "I will grant you grace for your insolence this time because it is obvious that your miserable little mind is struggling to catch up with your position." He then shifted his expression in to one of which Shulk suspected was supposed to look benevolent but came across as smug. 

Rage bubbled up hot under his skin at Zanza's words. 

"I am not 'struggling to catch up to my position' I am very clear on what is going on! You've killed everyone and kidnapped me!" 

"'Kidnapped' implies you were taken against your will" Zanza's tone had gone icy. "I seem to remember you agreeing to be my disciple very much of your own free-will." 

Shulk felt his face go red. This was so backwards!  
"I had no other choice!" He nearly screamed. 

"Oh you had _choice_. Thats what you and your *friends* were always preaching about right? Free-will?" Zanza growled. He had gotten up onto the bed with Shulk at this point, standing on his knees over top of him. "And I thought you would have more sense than to blame your _God_ for your own decisions. The only thing I _did to you_ was make the mistake of giving you Homs autonomy in the first place!" He punctuated this by darting a arm out to grasp Shulk's jaw. "Now I suggest you learn your place _vessel_ " 

Shulk was ashamed feel himself begin to trembling under Zanza's crushing grasp. Zanza radiated power now more than ever and Shulk felt utterly dwarfed by the being above him.

The fear must have been evident in him because suddenly Zanza's eyes softened and he moved his hand to lightly tilt up Shulk's chin.   
"Now I feel an apology is in order Shulk." A slow smile stretched across his face, "Because while I won't kill you I can easily break your jaw and then maybe you'd think twice before opening your mouth in protest." 

Shulk searched his eyes for any sort of clue that he was lying but all he found was emptiness. There was no doubt he meant it. So Shulk swallowed his pride and shuddered before saying, "Im...sorry." 

Zanza was uncomfortably quiet for a moment as if contemplating something. His thumb stayed still on Shulk's chin, holding him in place. Then in a flash he had returned to his face to a smug neutral. 

"Now that wasn't to hard was it?" He suddenly got off the bed in one fluid movement. Shulk's nerves felt frayed. What just _happened_...?

"I designed this room to be an adequate living space for a hom at least until you are able to be trusted with more than this." Zanza turned to him. "And with immortality comes a few advantages. You no longer need to eat or drink so no need to worry about hunger or starvation so-" Zanza turned and began to walk away "-you are welcome. There is much to be done Shulk. Be good." And with a flash of light he was gone. 

  
The silence was unsettling. It was utterly quiet. It made his beating heart seem loud in his ears. 

Was he serious? Did Zanza really have the power to completely negate Shulk's need for food and water? It reminded Shulk of Fiora, and how after being integrated with her face unit she only needed water to survive, but this was a completely different situation. Her organs had been removed entirely, but as far as Shulk could tell he still had all his parts. 

Shulk took the opportunity to check the rest of his body. Despite being a little groggy, he did feel energized for the most part. He knew he'd been unconscious for at least a day, and they hadn't exactly had time to stop and refuel since before the fight with Dickson so he should be starving but he felt… fine. 

Shulk put those thoughts aside. What good was it to keep himself in awe of the powers of a monster? 

Instead, he took in his surroundings. 

  
Shulk took in his surroundings. The room was not large but big enough to walk around comfortably without feeling to confined. It was mostly white with gold accents which annoyingly reminded him of Zanza's suit. His massive ego leaked even into his decorating so it seemed. There wasn't much in the room besides the bed. 

He sat on the edge of bed for a moment and stared at the bright white floor until his vision began to spin. It was so quiet...He realized he hadn't really been alone since the beginning of this whole journey. There was always someone there. Whether it was Reyn making sure he was ok, Dunban lifting his spirits with some stoic words of encouragement, Melia and Riki sharing playful banter, Sharla taking care of everyone's post battle wounds, and Fiora...

It finally hit.  
He was never going to see them again. 

He'd never be able to be there for Reyn one day. He'd never be able to thank Dunban for being the rock that they all needed. He'd never be able to see Melia rise to be the Empress that she was always meant to be. He'd never be able to get Riki back to his family or one day see Sharla return to the rebuilt home that she lost so she could start healing her own wounds that she held so close to her heart. And he'd never be able to tell Fiora he...h-he...

A drop splashed to the cold polished floor. Then another. And another. Shulk fists twisted in the sheets keeping his eyes locked on the ground. It started with sniffles that became choked sobs. 

He'd never see them again...Why? Why did this happen?! 

His hands flew to his eyes as he let out a strangled scream. 

He was the only one left and he didn't know what to do. He thought hopelessly to himself. He had only made it so far because of his friends and now he was alone and he was _never going to see them again_.

The hiccuping sobs echoed around him. He hadn't cried like this since...since he didn't know when. What could he do now?

He didn't know what to do and so he cried. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well another chapter down and I've already got another chapter in the makings so stay tuned!  
> Feel free to comment or whatever!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY IM BACK! I had some issues with my job so I was unable to write for about a month but hey here we are with another chapter! No non-con in this chapter but there is some violence so be ready for that. Its 3:00am so I'm just gonna slap this on here and pray that when I read it in the morning I won't regret being born

Despite it being nearly impossible to tell the passage of time in this small, nearly empty room, Shulk knew he had been crying for a while. After the tears had dried and the shock had abated, he found himself feeling completely and utterly drained. Even so, he did not dare try and sleep in the expansive bed, for fear of a repeat of his last encounter with Zanza.

Even just thinking of the events of the last hour or so, Shulk's face flushed hot with shame and rage. He _apologized_ , just like that. Had he really given into Zanza's wishes and repented for being _disrespectful_ , of all things?

"But Zanza had threatened to break my jaw," he mumbled to himself, a weak attempt at an excuse. He couldn't have let him do that. Could he? Maybe it would have been better than giving in so quickly, despite it being only the first few hours of his confinement.

He tried to shake aside the thought, but the phantom ache of Zanza's grasp on his jaw dispelled any attempt at focusing on any, more productive, train of thought. Regardless, Shulk pushed himself to stand and set his growingly anxious mind to the task of analyzing every inch of his prison in an attempt to find a potential escape route or at the very least gather some information about his whereabouts. 

His brain felt like mush. The shock and confusion had subsided after the first few hours and dissolved into anxious restlessness. His already hyperactive mind struggled to do something with the painfully dull room he was presented with. After he tried running his hands along the plain white walls and checking for possible hidden doorways or vents (there were none), he paced to try and lessen the building tension building in every muscle. When that didn't work he checked the walls and floor again. Then he paced. Then he tried climbing on the bed and jumped to try and reach the ceiling (which was just slightly out of reach on at the height of each bounce) before pacing. Again.

It was at around what Shulk calculated to be around 4 hours that the coiled ball of anxiety began to unfurl into the beginning stages of panic. There was no conceivable way out of here.

The light bouncing off the unbelievably white walls and floor seemed to grow brighter with each passing moment.

"It’s not brighter, it’s just in your head." he shakily reassured himself.

He was vaguely aware of his heart rate picking up and his breathing getting harsher.

In a desperate need to disrupt the bland order of his prison, Shulk turned his attention to the only thing in the room. He started by removing the several plush pillows and ripping off the sheets, tossing them all to the ground haphazardly.

_Seriously, was it getting brighter in here?_

He then wedged his fingers under the large mattress and began to lift one side of it. In the back of his mind he mused at how strong he had gotten, as he managed to prop the giant mattress up on its side. It took only a shove for it to topple onto the other side of the ornate bed frame.

Shulk was heaving in breaths at this point, face red and heart pounding from physical and emotional exertion. What was he accomplishing? He didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. He was confined in this windowless room, where his captor had just forced him into _apologizing_ for _talking back_ , and his friends were still...his friends were...

The light was getting brighter.

"Are you having fun?"

Shulk yelped and whirled around at the sudden voice in the oppressive silence.

"I see you've been busy." Zanza deadpanned, looking down in distain at the scattered bedding.

Shulk stared up at him in open surprise at the abrupt appearance, still panting before shifting into a furious scowl. "It’s not like there was much else to do in here."

A dark expression flashed across Zanza's features as he turned his attention to Shulk.

"You better watch your tone." He warned, taking a step closer to the increasingly hysterical boy.

Shulk flinched ever so slightly but stood his ground, glaring with all the hate he could muster.

"Why should I!" He snapped. "Why should I have respect for the bastard who k-killed-"

Shulk faltered. He felt like if he said it, it would make it more real and he didn't know if he could bear the pain.

"What?" Zanza spit the word with venom. "What did you want to say? Go ahead! I give you my permission. Say that I killed your friends. *Say it.* Tell me how I loved slitting their throats and having their blood spill for their crimes against their God!"

Nausea came in a wave over Shulk. He couldn't bear to hear this. "Stop!"

"I loved to hear them die!" Zanza's tone had shifted into one of almost gloating. He began to close the distance between himself and Shulk "They begged for my mercy!"

Shulk's hands flew to his ears to block out the verbal assault as he screamed. "*Shut up!*" 

Suddenly, he was kneeling on the ground, gasping at the stinging pain that spread fast and hot across his cheek. Zanza had backhanded him and now stood imposingly above him as

Shulk raised a hand to cup his stinging face. Zanza had backhanded him.

"Now. How _dare_ you disrespect the gifts I have given you." He sneered, "After I was so merciful to let you have the choice to come with me into the new world."

Fury flared up in Shulk's chest at the mention of his so called 'choice'.

"Choice? I had no choice!" He countered, attempting to rise from his kneeling position. Before he could, Zanza grabbed a fistful of Shulk's hair at the root. The immediate pain 

that blossomed across his scalp kept him in a kneeling position. Shulk's hands flew to grasp at Zanza's wrist in an attempt to alleviate the searing pressure.

"You always had a choice Shulk. You _chose_ to defy me. You _chose_ to lead them to their deaths, you _chose_ to come with me." Zanza leaned down close to his ear, "And, you chose everything that happens after."

With that he roughly released his grip on Shulk’s hair, causing Shulk to fall backwards to the floor. Shulk lay there in shock for a moment staring up at Zanza, eyes alight with anger and thinly veiled pain. Zanza stared back down at him with only annoyance.

"I expect an apology." Zanza stated plainly. But then, something that Shulk couldn't read seemed to come over Zanza that caused that annoyed scowl into more of a smirk.

"Or..." He began, "I could present you with another _choice_."

That anxious feeling Shulk was getting so accustomed to sat heavy at the pit of his stomach.

"I-I have nothing to apologize for." He ground out from his place on the floor. He hated how his voice wavered slightly.

"Oh? Then you have already made your decision. I want you to tell me about her."

Shulk felt like his brain turned to cotton. What was he talking about?

"What are you talking about?"

Zanza tilted his head in mock confusion "Why, Fiora of course. Who else?"

Shulk's blood ran cold. F-Fiora? Why would he ask about Fiora of all people? What could he want to know about her? He couldn't have found her too interesting considering he had killed-suddenly, anger overwhelmed the fear.

"Don't say her name! You don't deserve to know anything about her!"

A loud *smack* rung out in the room as Shulk was harshly backhanded for the second time.

"Let's try this again." Zanza said flatly. "Tell me about _Fiora_ or I start breaking fingers."

Shulk's heart picked up pace as he stared indignantly up at Zanza. There was no way he'd talk about her to this... this... monster.

"No.”

"Alright, then." Zanza wasted no time in kicking Shulk in the ribs, sending him sprawling on his back before straddling Shulk's heaving chest and snatching up Shulk's hand in his own. Cold, dead eyes locked onto Shulk's fear filled blue as Zanza snapped Shulk's index finger like a twig.

Zanza's stony expression and grip on Shulk's wrist were unwavering as Shulk screamed and writhed beneath him. He waited until Shulk's screaming turned into ragged breaths before making a grab at Shulk's pointer finger.

Shulk realized what was about to happen and started to struggle. "WAIT WAIT WAIT!"

Surprisingly, Zanza stopped. "Are you ready to tell me about Fiora?"

Shulk hesitated for a second, which was just long enough for Zanza to decide that Shulk must need a little more motivation. Once the screaming subsided, Zanza asked again albeit a little more forcefully.

"Are. You. Ready. To. Tell. Me. About. Fiora?"

Hot tears of pain were flowing freely down Shulk's cheeks as he shakily answered.

"Yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this encounter will continue in the next chapter so be ready...


	4. Chapter 4 (TW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well its 4:00am and im too tired to even think straight so that probably means its the best time to post this!  
> TW: There is some explicit stuff here like non-con kissing and mentions of sex so proceed with caution
> 
> Thanks again to faaf_foof for reading over this shit for me and editing! Go check out their fics!

Zanza's expression softened into a pleased grin. "Good! Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" 

Shulk’s face, red from the abuse and wet with tears, heated with poorly suppressed anger at the unexpected change in mood. 

"Now." Zanza stood abruptly and loomed above Shulk as he hovered, about a foot in the air. "Do you see what happens when you try to oppose fate?" 

Something dark crossed Zanza's face, and Shulk couldn't help flinching slightly at the sight. 

"You get hurt.” Zanza answered his question. “Simple as that." 

Just as quickly as the darkness had come over his expression, Zanza was back to his facade of benevolence. "You may begin"

Shulk took a second to decipher what Zanza meant. When his brain caught up with reality and he recalled what he had agreed to, he wanted nothing but to sink into the floor and disappear. 

He wanted to ask why Zanza even wanted him to tell him about her. He had known her after all. Shulk wasn't entirely sure how much Zanza had been aware of while dormant in Shulk's body and frankly he didn't really want to think about it but still he had to have known her... right? 

Rather than indulge his wants, Shulk slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, staring pointedly at the corner of the room. He realized, shamefully, that he couldn't quite convince himself to meet Zanza's gaze. 

"W-what do you want to know?"

Zanza reclined slightly as if in a lounge chair, seeming to ponder Shulk's question. After a beat he spoke. "Tell me about how she looked." 

Shulk felt a twang in his heart at the use of the past tense, but soldiered on for fear of being beaten again. After all, Zanza was still in hair-grabbing distance.

"Well..." Shulk directed his gaze to the floor in a silent plea for it to swallow him up. "She has green eyes..." 

He started to choke up a bit, but forced down the swell of fresh tears. "And soft hair...and an adorable smile." 

Shulk summoned up the memory of that day in Outlook Park. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts on her and the sound of her voice. "She was very pretty...and-"

Shulk's eyes snapped open, and he flinched violently at the feeling of a hand lightly cupping his cheek. He hadn't noticed that Zanza had gotten so close- now floating right in front of him, hand outstretched, brushing away a tear that Shulk hadn't noticed was falling. The feeling of the odd fabric of Zanza's suit brushing so softly against his face made his skin crawl. Shulk made to pull away, but the dangerous glare Zanza gave him forced him to freeze where he was. 

"Tell me about her body." Zanza drawled, and added, "…before Mechonis tore her apart and put her back together again in their own likeness" 

Shulk visibly bristled at the crude explanation of what had happened to Fiora, but Zanza was so close, and the memory of his violence so present.

Shulk chose to keep his mouth shut. 

But what could Zanza possibly mean? What about her body? What could he gain from having Shulk describe Fiora's body?

"Uh... she... um...” Shulk racked his brain. “Wasn't very tall...?"

Zanza retracted his hand, letting out an exasperated sigh. "No. I mean tell me *about her body*. How did you feel about it. How did it *feel*?"

Shulk was totally lost. "What? I've never really thought about it...?"

Zanza look a little surprised before his expression took on something of a sly yet triumphant, glee, as though he had gotten Shulk to say something truly fantastic. Shulk felt a deep unease settle in his stomach at the sight.

"Oh," Zanza started, "so you hadn't fucked her."

Shulk's face went beet red. "*W-what??*" 

"I would have assumed by the way she obviously lusted after you that you had at least gotten to stick it in her once or twice." Zanza stated coyly, that creepy glee never leaving his face.

Shulk had never really thought about Fiora in... that way. Hell, he didn't even fully understand what *that* way was. He only really had heard about anything related to... uh *being with girls* from a blushing, embarrassed Reyn many years ago and a very clinical, biological, explanation of the birds and the bees from Dunban when he was first entering puberty. He couldn't imagine why Zanza would think he and Fiora had...

"I- I don't know why you'd say that!" Shulk sputtered. He didn’t know the first thing about...doing anything of the sort! 

Zanza chuckled. It was, on the surface, a weirdly casual sound coming from the same person who just destroyed the known world, but something on a deeper level was off. It was hollow somehow. It lacked...warmth. "Don't be coy, Shulk." 

His smile reminded Shulk of a piranax. Too many teeth. "Or... Are you really a virgin? I wouldn't expect that, seeing as how that slut was all over my vessel." 

Zanza was still smiling, but the mood had shifted slightly. Was he angry with him? Or... Fiora? And wait... He was aware of how close Fiora was to him? How much had Zanza been aware of in Shulk's body? If he knew all this about Fiora, why could he possibly be having Shulk talk about how he felt about Fiora?

"Hey hold on-!" Shulk began to protest, but was cut off by Zanza raising a hand as if to strike him again, causing Shulk to flinch back.

"Shulk," Zanza sighed, closed his eyes and rubbed at the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "don't interrupt me." 

Shulk only glared back in reply. His face was already sore enough from the original beating, and he was afraid he'd pass out if he was backhanded again. He swallowed his pride and fumed in silence, hoping to at least remain conscious while Zanza was around. 

"Now," he began to speak again once Shulk had quieted down. "Had you ever been kissed by her?" 

Shulk didn’t know why Zanza kept acting like he had no clue how close he had gotten with Fiora. He obviously knew more than he was letting on. Was he... enjoying making Shulk say it? "What do you want me to say? You should know." 

Zanza tilted his head slightly, his sharp smile morphing into one of smug superiority. "I see you have figured out that I was fully aware in your body." 

Shulk's skin crawled at the admission that Zanza had been watching him throughout his life. He felt sick. "F-fully aware?" 

"Answer the question Shulk. Directly." Zanza leaned in closer, placed his thumb on Shulk's chin, and lifted is face slightly. There was a threat laced in those words. 

Flustered by the closeness, and the odd mood the room had taken on, Shulk answered shakily. "I- I... no, she hadn't kissed me. I had kissed her but she had never kissed me." 

With that, Zanza closed the distance and kissed him. 

Shulk's eyes went wide with shock, and he struggled against the sudden invasion but the grip on his chin was rock solid. It was only when Zanza *licked* across Shulk's unwilling lips that Shulk shoved Zanza's shoulders hard enough to push himself back and onto the ground. He scrambled to move as far away from his captor as possible while his panicked mind did flips trying to work out how it had escalated to this point. Where had this come from? 

Zanza was too fast. He grabbed Shulk's ankle and pulled him close before pouncing on top of him, pinning Shulk to the ground. As Shulk gasped in shock, Zanza took the opportunity to crash their lips together again and deepen the kiss. 

Before he could think to bite down on the intruding tongue, Zanza pulled away, grinning openly with wicked glee. 

"Am I your first, then?” he asked, mocking. 

Shulk was shaking, staring in wild shock up into Zanza's triumphant gaze, and heaving in air like a drowned man. "Wh-why-" 

Before he could finish, Zanza had started kissing across Shulk's jaw before moving to Shulk's neck. Shulk writhed under his grip but Zanza had grabbed both his wrists in one hand and pinned them above his head. His broken finger pulsated with hot pain at the pressure.

When Zanza's free hand moved under his shirt, Shulk screamed. "NO! STOP! PLEASE! *PLEASE*!" He didn't know where this was headed, but was still terrified of escalation. 

Zanza unattached himself from the place he had been licking on Shulk's neck to look at Shulk with a piqued interest, before schooling his expression to faux confusion. "What for?" 

Shulk was openly sobbing at this point. "I-I don't w-want this...please..." 

Zanza seemed to think a moment. "I’ll stop. As long as you apologize." 

"I-I'm sorry! I am! I am so sorry! Please!" 

Suddenly, Zanza was off of him. 

"Good! I'll let you be.” He stared down at Shulk, from where he had drawn to his full height. “Though if you intend on blubbering, the least you could do is beg my forgiveness like a good worshipper.” 

Shulk had curled in on himself, cradling his injured hand. 

"Well, you are welcome Shulk. Be glad I was the one to grace you with your first real kiss instead of *her*. Consider yourself blessed. Many would kill to take your place." 

With that, Zanza was gone in a flash of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW this chapter was rough and it can only get worse from here. 
> 
> Goodluck :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I was sorta in my feels while writing this so this one is a little depressing and short but here we go!  
> No TWs in this one except mentions at the beginning. Thank you for reading :)

Zanza hadn't been back for what must have been four or five days. It was mind-numbingly dull, but dull in Shulk's opinion (at least for the first two or so days), was vastly preferred to having to endure a forced make-out session. 

The first few hours after the... _attack_ were the hardest. The panic attack didn't subside until long after Zanza had vanished and in that time he had mostly laid there, curled in on himself. But that was not the worst part. The worst part was having to *think* about what just happened and Shulk couldn't help but think it over in excruciating detail. Each moment was burned into his brain like a sickening play. Zanza's question, Zanza locking lips with him, Zanza's grip on his injured hand, Zanza's tongue, Zanza's hand smoothing across the senstive skin of his stomach, Zanza, Zanza...It was an endless cycle.   
The cycle only broke when Shulk felt the sudden urge to vomit. He had enough presence of mind to stumble to the corner of the room to do it. The only thing that came up was bile unsurprisingly, but after he was done retching, he realized how utterly exhausted he was. He supposed it was to be expected considering all he had gone through within the span of a hour or two. He managed to get himself to gather the mess of pillows into a pile and wrap himself in a discarded sheet before slipping into a deep sleep. 

Most of Shulk's time was spent sleeping, but it was far from restful. He really didnt mind sleeping on the floor. After all on their journey they had spent many a night setting up camp in a wide variety of conditions so Shulk was not unfamiliar with sleeping on the ground but, despite this, Shulk spent hours falling in and out of nightmares. Some were about Zanza and what he had done to him and his friends while others were about dumb things that he hadn't had nightmares about in a long time. Caterpillars, for example, were a reoccurring subject that left him waking in a cold sweat. Not to mention the throbbing mess that was his broken fingers that woke him up every time he jostled them in his sleep.   
After a slew of painfully vivid dreams, Shulk found he was having trouble determining dream from reality.   
Shulk's waking hours were not much more pleasant. He paced a lot and when he was not pacing, he was thinking, and that always ended up leading back to the events of the last few days which was driving him absolutely up the wall. 

The hours melted together and with no real sense of time or stimulation, Shulk began to feel as if he was stuck in one perpetual moment. With his guilty conscience about his team that hung like an albatross around his neck alongside the unknown variable that was Zanza looming, Shulk felt as if he was constantly on the precipice of another break-down so, he resigned himself to sleep. He had to keep telling himself that it was better than being driven insane while he was awake to ease the anxious brewing that settled in his stomach at the prospect of being asleep the next time Zanza decided to show his face. 

  
Days had passed and Shulk began to wonder if Zanza _was_ coming back. He didnt exactly doubt that he wouldn't _eventually_ given how he had seemed to revel in Shulk's screaming apologies so it was unlikely that he had grown bored of him. Right? It was more that Shulk realized, as he was sitting on his makeshift nest of bedding, that Zanza was no stranger to eternity and Shulk began to consider the fact that Zanza could leave him there for months, no, years if he so chose and it would be nothing to him. This consideration chilled him to his core.  
Shulk would shake away these thoughts whenever they creeped at the edges of his mind but he couldn't quite absolve himself of the fear. The thought of being trapped in an empty room for the rest of eternity began to eat away his resolve that he never wanted to see Zanza again. After all, without access to Zanza, how was he ever going to develop any type of plan of retribution for his friends or even any type of escape? 

'Escape? Escape into what' the voice in the back of his head nagged. 'he destroyed *everything*...and everyone' 

But he couldn't bear to believe that. Not after all he had learned to believe in. Not after all his friends had believed in. Their ideals, their bonds, everything they had learned in their time together. They would want for him to keep on. To keep fighting. 

'but for what?' The voice reasoned. 'what is there to fight for?'

Shulk had to give this some thought. What was there to fight for? Everything he had known was...gone. Wiped out. And Shulk was the only thing that remained. And what was he? A relic of the past...? What could he stand to accomplish in the face of complete and utter deletion of the know? What could he fight for if he didn't even know what was outside of the room that, in such a short period of time, had become his world.   
Maybe...he had become irrelevant.

What if...Zanza let him rot there until his own thoughts drove him mad? 

No. No that can't be the case. He had taken Zanza's deal. Did Zanza really take him from the threat of leaving him in the void just to let him rot in a new type of prison? The panic rose in steady waves and Shulk did the only thing he could think to do.

"Zanza!" He screamed, standing suddenly. "Zanza! Where are you!" 

Nothing but silence. 

"Zanza I know you are listening!...P-Please!" 

Shulk stood there in the quiet and waited. Nothing.   
Suddenly, the hopelessness set in. He sat (more like crashed), onto his "bed" and felt the tears well up. He was sick of crying. He had never cried this much in his life. Not that he was immune to saddness or pain but he always had had a reason to go on. A reason to keep fighting the tears. Whether it was for Reyn and Fiora's sake back at Colony 9, or for nessesity as he pushed himself from battle to battle in persuit of their ultimate goal. But now...

He pulled his legs to his chest and rested his head on his knees as he began to cry softly. The only difference now was that these were no longer tears or fear, rage, or pain, these were tears of despair.

"Oh Shulk..." Zanza hummed

Shulk startled and lifting his head to blearily look up at Zanza who was now kneeling in front of him. Zanza reached out and Shulk dully winced as Zanza brushed a thumb over his cheekbone. 

"You were good to call out for me." He cooed. "It was what you were made to do." 

Shulk barely registered that he was leaning into Zanza's touch. Despite all the sleep, he was so tired...

Zanza used his other hand to brush Shulk's bangs out of his face. "Aren't you tired of resisting Shulk?" Zanza very carefully took Shulk's injured hand in his own. "Aren't you tired of getting hurt?" Shulk watched as if in a dream as Zanza lifted Shulk's hand to his lips and kissed it lightly. He was immediately aware of the sudden lack of pain where his injury had been. Had Zanza just...healed his fingers?

"You were made for me Shulk. Fate decided it. Born to be *my* vessel. And it doesn't have to be painful. I created all living things on the Bionis to serve me but not to suffer."   
His words were almost melodic and Shulk felt his eyelids droop with their calming cadence. He barely flinched as Zanza maneuvered him in a way where he was now laying down with his head in Zanza's lap. 

"Give yourself over to fate Shulk." Zanza said softly as he ran his fingers through Shulk's blond hair. Shulk absently savored the almost kind touch. "And the peace will follow." 

Shulk made a weak sound of protest but soon gave himself over to the lulling brush of fingers through his hair and promises of peace. Because after all, isnt that what he had wanted in the first place...?   
Even though in his heart he knew what Zanza was saying must not be right, he found himself drifting away. 

  
When he woke, he was on the bed. The real bed. Zanza was no where to be seen. The mattress was back on its frame and Shulk had been tucked neatly under the clean and crisp covers. When had...He felt mortification set in as he remembered falling asleep in Zanza's lap...he had...

Shulk noticed quickly that something had changed in the room. The room was completely clean. No scattered bedding, no vomit, but most noteably, a small ornate box had been placed across the room from him.

At the sight of something new to break up the monotony, Shulk practically threw himself out of bed to get to it.   
Cautiously, he flipped open the gilded lid to see...a mess of gears, different bits of machinery, and a set of delicate tools. Shulk's brain quickly analyzed the parts and gleaned that they must be the scattered remains of a watch.   
He couldn't help the overpowering swell of excitement that this discovery sparked. The only thing that kept him from immediatly launching himself into working on figuring out what he could manage to do with these pieces of a watch was the disturbing realization of what he had had to do to gain this...gift. 

Zanza was rewarding him for good behavior.

He felt hollow at the thought. One part of him was disgusted at himself for giving Zanza anything but on the other, deeper part of himself, he was nearly happy he did. After all it did give him something to do. 

In the back of his mind he wondered if Zanza would have ever come if he hadn't begged for him...

But that wasn't important right now. He swallowed the shame and focused on getting to work. 


End file.
